U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., continued to show he will be a force on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee last week as his bill giving Congress more oversight of wasteful spending in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) passed the committee without opposition.
Rutherford teamed up with U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the committee, earlier this month to unveil the “Reducing Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Cost Growth Act.”
According to Rutherford’s office, his legislation would“hold DHS agencies more accountable in administering their major acquisition programs and would give Congress greater oversight of troubled programs to prevent wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars by agencies like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).”
Rutherford has cited reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the DHS Office of the Inspector General which showed DHS has had major problems with major acquisition programs, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than $7 billion. The Jacksonville Republican also has pointed to a GAO report from 2015 which “found that 20 out of 22 major acquisition programs experienced cost growth, schedule slips, or both” and these programs are “highly susceptible to waste and mismanagement.”
After the committee passed his bill on Wednesday, Rutherford made the case for why it was needed.
“The House Committee on Homeland Security unanimously passed my bill H.R. 1294, the Reducing Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Cost Growth Act, which prevents wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars by holding DHS agencies more accountable in administering their major acquisitions programs and by giving Congress greater oversight of troubled programs,” Rutherford said. “Passing this bill will stop the waste of resources and help Congress implement solutions to quickly address any setbacks or cost overruns. I thank the members of the committee for their bipartisan support of this bill and I look forward to it advancing to the full House.”
In his first two months in Congress, Rutherford has taken a large role on homeland security issues, including being appointed by McCaul onto the newly formed Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry into the United States.
